Hobbiton

Thursday was another full on day of teaching and it went pretty well (said Margaret Sellar who sneakily observed me teaching a lesson when I wasn't suspecting it).  My students are so eager to learn and are really wonderful children!  Having a class size of only fifteen has been wonderful  Classroom management isn't really an issue at all (granted that is a combination of both my strict/high expectations and small class sizes).

On Friday I had the opportunity to time and participate in Swim Sports for students Year 4-13.  I was assigned to the Blue House (which was obviously the best house to belong to aka Gryffindor).  Just as I  began to fill with pride for the Blue House and started to think of some great chants I was whisked away to time individual lanes.  I haven't been to many swim meets (so I have a lack of background knowledge to compare to), but these kids were great swimmers!  I heard a statistic that there are approximately 70 drowning deaths a year down here that could be prevented if the person had known how to swim.  It only makes since that because of Auckland's easy access to water students should receive swim lessons in school.  The kids were all completely comfortable in the water.  I don't think that I represented team USA and Michael Phelps too well when I swam as part of the teacher relay for the final event of Teachers vs. Parents vs. High School students vs. Middle School students...but I am from Ohio...we aren't too well known for our swimming abilities.  During my afternoon tea break on Friday (the perks of being a teacher = students bringing you tea and hot crossed buns while you are working) I spent a nice amount of time talking to Paul Norell who just started teaching at Hebron Christian College on Monday.  If you don't know the name Paul Norell you might know the name of one of the characters he portrayed...the King of the Dead from the Lord of the Rings.  Yes, the King of the Dead is a teacher at my school...pretty intimidating stuff, maybe I should have him run my detention.  While Paul and I were chatting he asked me if I was interested in visiting Hobbiton.  Uhhhhh...YES!  As it turns out he was leading a group of people from a cruise on a tour down to Hobbiton Saturday morning and there was extra space if I wanted to join, free of charge.  The plans were made to meet at down at Princes Wharf at the cruise ship in the morning and the deal was sealed.

This brings us to Saturday, the day I visited The Shire.  My host Dad dropped me off down at the wharf early Saturday morning and I met up with Paul and everyone from the cruise ship where we hopped on a charter bus and enjoyed the two hour drive down to Matamata.  I learned a few new things about Auckland from our bus driver along the way, like the fact that Auckland is only 1km wide at it's skinniest and 11km wide at it's thickest point.  The best part about traveling with an established tour was the fact that we didn't have to wait around to buy tickets or for the next bus into Hobbiton we simply drove in past the line of waiting people.  The walking tour through Hobbiton lasted around 1 1/2 hours and was absolutely breathtaking.  It is truly like walking into another world.  I was awestruck by the attention to detail that was put into everything from thousands of fake leaves hand painted for the fake tree behind Bilbo Baggin's hole (pictured to the left) or the fake moss applied to the fences to make them appear more aged than they truly are and the hobbit sized clothes hanging on lines.  Our tour ended at the Green Dragon Pub where we were served a delicious lunch.  I had a very enjoyable time talking to everyone from the cruise (I must have lowered the average age by a few decades) who came from various sides of the world including England, Canada, Australia, and even one American as well.  In the end, I was thoroughly impressed with my trip to Hobbiton.


Today (Sunday) I was able to join Vic, (one of the teachers at Hebron who is actually originally from California) Christina, and Svenya (two students teachers from Germany also at Hebron) to the church that Vic attends regularly.  I continue to feel so blessed with the community at Hebron, so many of the teachers have reached out to me and eager to introduce me to new people and places.  After a wonderful church service followed by a heavy lunch at Vic's house I returned home for Theo's 12th birthday party.  Nothing like sitting in the backyard eating fresh fruit and meringues in the sun to make a Sunday truly relaxing.

This week is bringing a new adventure that will separate me from technology for a few days.  Tuesday through Friday I will be accompanying the Senior High students as they go all go to camp!  Being placed in the primary department I have little interaction with the high schoolers so I am both excited and intimidated to spend this week with them.  I am only comforted in know that the teacher cabin that I will be staying in consists of some pretty awesome staff!  I will also be privileged with leading a group of students through all of the activities during the duration of the week, this will give me many great opportunities to build relationships with the scary students who seem to be twice my size.  Prayers are appreciated as I am sure that I will be exhausted by the end of camp!

Soloing

Friday night was an extremely quite one in the house.  Levi, Theo, and Willa all went to spend the night with respective friends and Toby was working until midnight…so it was just me and the host parents.  After school I went for my daily run, but it turned into a walk after I got a pretty terrible case of shin splints…I think it means I should just be swimming in the pool more often.  :)  My host family has an Irish man currently working on building a little retaining wall behind the pool for a raised garden bed and we all ended up in the kitchen Friday night eating carrots (my host Mum recently bought a 40 lb bag of carrots because they were on sale for $8 so we are now required to eat a carrot with every meal).  It was a gold mine of wonderful accents in the kitchen Friday night that we talked until 9 at night munching on carrots until our stomaches urged us to eat a proper meal.  Dad, you would have loved dinner!!  We order multiple different curries from a nearby Thai takeaway and watched British talk shows in the Black Room while trying to cool our burning mouths (that Thai food was hottt).  

Saturday was a whole not of nothing.  I sat around and relaxed the whole day with the host family while writing lesson plans.  It is sometimes hard to remember that I am here for student teaching so my real focus has to be my classroom.  I watched another classic New Zealand movie, Boy.  It is a wonderful combination of humor and grief, I would highly recommend it!  

Sunday started by sleeping through my alarm and being awoken by my host Mum yelling my name and asking if I was ready to go on the weekly walk up Mt. Albert with the dog, Oscar, and some of her friends.  I scrambled to get dressed and joined them for a cup of coffee before the walk.  I then joined one of my host Mum's colleagues (who is my age) and her flat mate on a quick trip to a nearby beach.  It was wonderful to just relax on the beach and read a  book.  It has been a really beautiful day, gorgeous sun and a cooling breeze.  

Monday was my first day of solo teaching and I let myself get frustrated over little things and didn't focus on the positives which made it a rather rough day.  I spent a good bit of my Monday evening reflecting on what I could change to make Tuesday better and it really ended up in my attitude.  Teaching is exhausting and I must accept the fact that I must rely on God's strength not my own.  All day Tuesday I focused on the positives and prayed for a lot of patience and had an absolutely amazing day in the classroom!  Wednesday was exactly the same.  I had the fun experience of teaching Art for the first time (with my focus on special education I haven't had an opportunity to teach any specials).  I also had the opportunity today to talk with two other international student teachers who are at Hebron Christian College from Germany.  We are working on organizing a trip down to Hobbiton together sometime very soon!! God is so faithful and I am being reminded of his faithfulness daily.  

Valentine

Teaching is exhausted.  It is Friday night and I have been forcing my eye lids open, just to realize that it is only 11:30pm.  I am not really a night owl by any means, but this is too early to feel this exhausted.  This week, as a teacher, has been very rewarding for me.  God has given me a true passion and gift in teaching and I have received some very uplifting observation assessments from my cooperating teacher and my supervisor!  This news has really encouraged me and even if I am completely drained by Friday night, I know that I am doing something right throughout the rest of the week.  Room 7 is the best class is the whole school and I don't think that anybody could convince me otherwise.  On Thursday, I lead the class in a song during our devotions time.  I should point out that while I am rather confident in my singing, I have little confidence in my ukulele skills (I started playing a little over a week ago).  My kids were so forgiving of my strumming mistakes and awkward pauses throughout the song and they just gleefully sang out the lyrics.  I really enjoyed our time in song and hope to continue to incorporate more and more music throughout the day.  I can hardly believe that I start my solo teaching/full control this coming week!  I really look forward to learning right alongside my students.  

Wednesday after school there was a staff meeting all about Autism and Aspergers.  Being a double major in early childhood and special education I was quite excited to learn more about their views on the autism spectrum and learn more about how they treat disabilities in the schools.  I can't really say that I learned any new information during the presentation (which is probably a shout out to MVNU's wonderful Intervention Specialist program), but I did love the analogies and simulations that were used to present the material in slightly different ways than what I was used to.  The school that I teach at does have IEPs, but they write them for both students with disabilities and gifted students.  The IEPs don't look anything like our twenty page forms, but I really like how they write out individual plans for gifted students.  I myself am guilty on putting a majority of my attention in the classroom on the students who are struggling because that is my passion, but this experience has been a nice reminder that I have to push my students who are advanced with the same urgency.  

Another highlight of my week was Valentine's Day.  Vincent had an awards ceremony that he had to attend for work Thursday night so Sarah decided to take all of us kids to the beach.  Levi drove us over to Muriwai on the west coast (the west coast has beautiful black sand beaches, I have never  seen anything like it before).  We bought some fish and chips when we arrived at the beach and had a lovely dinner by the ocean.  I tried also tried Kiwi food that I didn't like for the first time...muscle fitters.  The texture was just a little too much for me.  As the sun was setting we took the quick five minute hike up the coast for an amazing view of the gannet colony.  Gannets are seabirds and at this colony there are approximately 1,200 pairs of gannets that nest here on two islands from August to March.  The smell wasn't too enjoyable, but the view of the Tasman Sea was wonderful.  We finished our hike right as the sun slipped under the horizon and then decided to we should probably head home, it was a school night and none of us had done any work yet.  

Gannet Colony in the background

I really look forward to starting my full control on Monday, prayers are appreciated, I know it will be more tasking than I realize.  Must go write lesson plans and submit job applications.  Be prepared for ridiculous stories about students in upcoming posts.

Typical

Almost a whole week has past since my last post, and I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by.  I remember thinking how long seven weeks was going to be before I left and now that I am here I am already wishing that I could stay longer.  Seven weeks doesn't possibly seem like a long enough time to do everything that I want to do.  I am so thankful that I have this amazing opportunity to student teach in New Zealand and I really want to be present and humble in every moment.  With that little rant out of the way lets recap what has happened this past week.

Thursday and Friday seemed to fly by.  I finally have a lot of the school routines down and after I spoke in assembly on Tuesday introducing myself almost all of the kids in the school know my name and say hello to me as I pass by.  The community at Hebron Christian College is truly spectacular.  Friday night my host family introduced me to some classic New Zealand movies.  For once, I had a strong enough background knowledge to be able to watch the movie without everything being explained to me so I was rather excited.  I also climbed Mt. Albert for the second time and this time remembered to bring my camera!  These are two of my favorite pictures of Auckland city complete with volcanoes in the distance.  Fun fact: The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.  

  

Saturday Levi and his band, Five Mile Town, were playing an outdoor concert at Matua Vineyard in Kumeu.  I was able to go over with Sarah and Vincent to be able to listen to his band live for the first time, he has played rough edits of their album that is still in production.  Five Mile Town has a fresh Indie/Folk/Rock sound.  Go look them up on YouTube!  After the concert I returned home and prepared dinner for Toby, Theo, and Willa (Sarah and Vincent had dinner plans with friends).  Dinner turned into watching another classic New Zealand movie while munching on sausage and veggie wraps.  Being an introvert, relaxing weekends like these have been exactly what I needed!  

Auckland city (and crater) from Mt. Eden

Sunday was full of church and adventure.  I went to church in the morning at City Side Baptist Church  with Sarah, Vincent, Theo, and Willa.  The church members were primarily young kids and their parents, nobody my age.  I found the service to be extremely relaxed and the conversation about God in nature to be very thought provoking.  After church Levi took me for a drive in his Mum's convertible around Auckland.  We went first to the top of Mt. Eden (picture on the left).  Mt. Eden is a huge tourist attraction and it was packed with a plethora of people on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.  The view of the city is breathtaking, I never realized just how surrounded by water we are in Auckland until I stood on the top of Mt. Eden. The immense crater on the top of Mt. Eden is also quite the sight, too bad it wasn't a crater that led to flowing lava.  :)  After Mt. Eden we drove down along Mission Bay and stopped for a quick stroll down the beach.  I had my first New Zealand ice block (tasted like lemon ice, but more like a popsicle on a stick).  We stopped on the beach to eat our ice blocks and take in the sight of Rangitoto Island.  Rangitoto Island is the largest and most recent of the approximately fifty volcanoes in Auckland.  While driving around Mission Bay Levi pointed out bunkers that were built into the sides of the earth all around the shore.  During World War II the Kiwis were worried of a possibly Japanese invasion (especially in Auckland) so bunkers were built along the coast to provide defense.  Luckily, the invasion never happened and the bunkers were never used, but they are still visible today as a reminder of the past. After our excursion Levi and I headed to church where we met up with Toby.  The older boys attend services at night at one of two local churches where the focus is teens and young adults.  It has been wonderful to worship with people my age and begin to make friends with others at church.  God is faithful and has provided me with exactly what I needed when I needed it.

Rangitoto Island

Today one of my student's parents said to me, "Places are really the people."  I have found this statement to be very true.  New Zealand is a magnificently beautiful country, but my experience would not be the same without the people.  The people that I have met while here have truly made this experience rewarding.  My students continue to show my kindness and compassion that I feel undeserving of.  Which brings me to one of the things that I hope to work on this Lenten season.  I want to see Christ in my students, especially those students who challenge me daily.  Each of my students have a unique gift and are blessed with some positive trait from God, I just have to open my own eyes to recognize it.  These last few weeks I pray for patience and compassion while working with my students to that I may begin to see them as God sees them.  

If you aren't my friend on Facebook then you haven't seen a lot of the pictures of my classroom.  Below is a link to an album that includes a summary of a typical school day in my classroom.  Check it out! A Typical Day

Waitangi

Happy Waitangi Day!!  Celebrating the treaty between the early European settlers and Maori chiefs gets me a day off of school today.  Before you get too jealous, just think of all of the snow delays and days off that I won't be receiving.  Started my morning off with a lovely extra hour of sleep.  I had beautiful intentions of being proactive with writing lesson plans and journal entries after breakfast, but I somehow ended up receiving ukulele lessons from Willa.  I might have already purchased a ukulele (Mrs. Sellar was buying a set in bulk for the whole class to be able to use, so it was considerably cheaper for me to buy one with her) so now I have some needed determination to learn how to play it.

I realized that I haven't talked a lot about my school/class so I am taking my morning tea time now to do so.  Something that has shocked me during my time here is how diverse the students and teacher are.  Just looking at the nationalities in my classroom you will find European, Korean, Chinese, Samoan, Tongan, and Indian.  I have not once noticed students treating each other differently because of skin color, cultural/ethnic background, or nationality.  When you look at the teachers and staff employed by the school you will notice the same thing, great diversity in nationalities and cultural backgrounds.  It has been absolutely beautiful working in an environment where so many cultures are held and respected.

Theo (host brother) recently got a wakeboard for his 12th birthday so it was decided that today would be a wonderful day to go out on the ocean and break it in.  Sarah's (host mum) parents own a home just north of Auckland that is right on the coast so Tobi, Theo, and I headed over to Pop and Gram's after morning tea.  After making a trip out to the farm to meet the last few aunts and uncles and some more cousins we packed up our gear and headed out to put the boat in the Hauraki gulf.  The wakeboard worked extremely well, I enjoyed watching Tobi and Theo master the rocky ocean.  Because it was so windy I decided it wouldn't be the best time to have a beginners lesson in wakeboarding, that will be saved for the lake on the family farm.  I have been failing at remembering to bring my camera with me, so I sadly have no pictures of our outing.  My best effort will be placed in taking many more pictures of my adventures, starting now!

In the meantime an earthquake has struck the Solomon Islands and prompted a tsunami alert for New Zealand and the rest of the South Pacific.  The tsunami alert for New Zealand was very preemptive, but it is best to be prepared especially after seeing the damage that can be done by tsunamis.  I am very grateful that the alert has since been lifted, but my heart aches for all those that were affected by the disaster.

Weekend

The more time I spend with people, naturally, the more open we become with each other.  I have had some insightful conversations about politics with many members of my host family this weekend.  I quite enjoying hearing outsiders perspectives on American politics and culture.  Let's face it, Americans can be pretty ignorant (video evidence here).  The more that I have traveled internationally the more I have been able to see just how self-absorbed and conceited our country can be at times.  We aren't the number one country in the world, we definitely might have been in the 50's, but times have changed.  I don't want to sound anti-american because that is not the truth at all, I have a lot of respect for the values that our country was built upon.  I also acknowledge that there are some positives to being so confident. We are a country that is willing to go out and try the seemingly impossible because we sometimes have the philosophy that if anybody is going to do something it will have to be us.  Ironically, traveling can be a great way to learn more about your own passport country.

I crossed another item off my Top 10 list by trying L&P!  L&P is a classic New Zealand beverage, the closest thing that I could relate it to in the States is lemonade.  However, describing it as lemonade just doesn't do it justice.  It is super sweet, with just a hint of a lemon flavor...perfect for the hot summer day.

I spent Saturday morning at Willa's softball game (she is a mean 1st base player) followed by a quick drive into the heart of the city.  I have had a lovely view of the city during my after school runs, but have never actually made it into the city.  Vincent (my host Dad) drove me around the highlights and then we parked by the wharf.  There is currently a lot of revitalization of the inner city waterfront occurring and it really looks amazing.  We spent some time looking at the oversized yachts and sailboats in the harbour and took in some pacific island music and dancing from a free show on the street.   They even play movies every Friday night down on the wharf by projecting them onto storage silos, hoping that I can head down next week to catch a movie!  Once we returned home I baked a Lohnes family recipe (applesauce cake) for my host family.  Even after cooking with the metric system, substituting multiple ingredients, making homemade applesauce for the first time, and failing at operating the oven the cake turned out absolutely delightful!  We ate it at morning, afternoon, and evening tea for the next few days and I will be sharing the recipe with Sarah (my host Mum) in return for her chutney recipes.  The rest of my Saturday was extremely relaxing, it even included a quick trip to Red Beach with Levi (oldest host brother). We didn't swim in the Hauraki Gulf on this occasion, but another trip out is in the making.

I went to church Sunday night with Levi to a service that was a little more youth focused so that meant Sunday morning could be a time for resting, devotions, and a little extra bit of sleep.  I did take away some time from sleeping in to walk up Mt. Albert (the volcano that the surburb I live in and my school is located in is named after/located on).  The venture to the top wasn't nearly as exerting as I had first assumed, but the view from the top is even better than I could have imagined.  I forgot my camera back in my room, but that just gives me another reason to climb to the top again.  This weekend of relaxation and reflection was exactly what my introverted personality needed!  Sunday was filled with lesson plans, house cleaning, and meeting some of my host family's extended family.  It is amazing how much humor I don't understand because I lack cultural/political background knowledge.  There have been numerous times that a joke was told and everyone else in the room laughed, while I sat silently with a stumped look on my face.  Luckily, Levi and Toby have always come to my rescue and quickly explained the necessary background knowledge that I was missing.  I have never really realized just how cultural humor was until now, a great learning experience this adventure has been.